Beth Appleton exiting Warner Music after ‘awe-inspiring’ 10 years

Beth Appleton, general manager of Warner Music Australia and senior vice president of marketing for Australia, announced she is leaving the major label after a decade of service.

In an internal note to her team today, Appleton said she would not be leaving immediately but staying on to help with the transition with her replacement.

“As many of you know, I often ask the question ‘What is the right thing to do?’ Appleton said.

“Me moving on now is the right thing for me to do and through me leaving to pursue my next challenge role, I hope I will provide space for others to grow and take on more responsibility.

“You’re such an amazing team and it’s been a pleasure to help support you all as you’ve developed your careers in our fast-changing business.

“Together we celebrate what we have achieved, especially in the last three years, but also what will be achieved by Warner in the coming years. The community of talented creative individuals we all get to work amongst continues to be awe-inspiring.”

Appleton’s 10 years with Warner were spent in Sydney and in London.

A graduate of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), she was quick to adopt and integrate digital strategies.

In 2016 she was awarded Music Ally’s Digital Achievement Award and recognised by Billboard as one of the Top 100 Women in Music.

She began at EMI in 1995 in the UK in marketing and then moved to its Australian operations as head of marketing and new media director in 2000.

She was at Richard Branson’s label V2 as head of digital and business development from 2003 to 2007, and was later appointed director of digital Universal Music Group in the UK, a post she held from 2007 to 2010.

Her Warner tenure began in 2011, as director of marketing in Australia. She held that role for three years, before moving to London in 2014 to take up the position of SVP, global marketing.

She oversaw campaigns for priority acts Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Charlie Puth, David Guetta, Jason Derulo, Josh Groban, Major Lazer, Michael Bublé and Twenty One Pilots.

In November 2017 she returned to Warner in Australia in her current role.

At the time, Stu Bergen, CEO of international and global commercial services for Warner Music Group said in TMN that Beth had proved to be an “outstanding member” of the global team.

“She has championed fresh digital strategies and innovative relationships that have hugely benefited our artist campaigns,” Bergen said.

Today, Warner Music Australasia’s president Dan Rosen paid tribute to Appleton.

“She’s always had a palpable passion for the music business and the people who work in it.

“Beth has always embraced positive change and never lost sight of how lucky we all are to working in our industry with so many talented and creative people,” Rosen said.